1. What did debate host CNN do to accommodate Vice President Joe Biden if he announces his candidacy for president on the day of the first Democratic primary debate?

2. What preparation has CNN made for Vice President Biden’s possible appearance at this first debate?

3. a) How many primary debates does the Democratic party have scheduled?
b) When is the second Democratic presidential primary debate?

4. a) How many Democratic presidential candidates will be in the debate if Joe Biden announces his candidacy?
b) How is Joe Biden doing in the polls before he has even announced his final decision on running for president?

5. Whether you would like Vice President Biden to run or not, do you support CNN’s change of rules to accommodate him in the debate? (Should his high poll numbers make a difference?) Explain your answer.

6. The first two Republican presidential primary debates had a record-breaking number of viewers:

• Fox's Republican debate on Aug. 6 was watched by 24 million viewers making it the highest-rated primary debate in television history. The event, featuring Donald Trump in his first debate, was also the highest-rated telecast in the nearly 20 year history of the Fox News Channel.
  For perspective, the first GOP primary debate four years ago, also on Fox, attracted 3.2 million viewers. (The most-watched primary debate that year, broadcast by ABC, reached 7.6 million.)
• CNN’s three-hour-plus Republican debate on Sept. 16 was watched by 22.9 million viewers. It set two records: biggest audience in CNN’s 30-year history and the longest presidential debate ever. An average of 6.9 million viewers fell into the news demographic, age 25-54, which is what cable news networks typically sell to advertisers. CNN noted that the debate also had an additional 4.5 million video streams.

How do you think Vice President Biden’s participation will affect the number of viewers in the Democratic debate?

CHALLENGE: Watch tonight’s debate between the candidates. Pay attention to the questions the moderators ask. Fill in the “Presidential Primary Debate” chart for the questions below:

1. List the candidates who took part in this debate.

2. List three questions asked by the moderator(s).

3. Which question do you think was the most important? Explain your choice.

4. For which question(s) did one or more candidates not give a direct answer, or not clearly answer the question?

5. A debate moderator’s role is to act as a neutral participant in a debate, to hold participants to time limits and to try to keep them from straying off the topic of the questions being raised in the debate. Do you think the moderator(s) in this debate fulfilled this role? Explain your answer.

6. a) Do you think the questions chosen by the moderator(s) helped viewers understand the candidates’ positions on foreign and domestic issues? Explain your answer.
b) Were the moderator’s questions fair to every candidate? Explain your answer.

NOTE: Tonight’s debate is sponsored by CNN and Nevada Democratic Party.

• October 13, 2015, at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, 8:30-11:00 p.m. Eastern time.
• It will air on CNN, and will also be broadcast on radio by Westwood One and on CNN.com.
• Anderson Cooper will be the moderator of the debate, with Dana Bash and Juan Carlos Lopez asking additional questions and Don Lemon presenting questions submitted by voters via Facebook.
• To be invited to the debate, a candidate must have achieved an average of at least 1% in three recognized national polls released between August 1 and October 10.
• In addition, a candidate must either have filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission or declare that one will be filed by October 14, the day after the debate.The latter criterion would accommodate Vice President Joe Biden if he decided to enter the presidential race as late as the day of the debate.